Monday, February 2, 2015

Supernatural Urban Legends Guest Post by Sherry Soule

Hi everyone, I’m Sherry Soule—waving from the Bay Area. Thanks for letting me stop by today and chat about my books. It’s a thrill to get to be a guest and meet fellow booklovers. I have put together a few mysterious and intriguing urban legends about the Spellbound series that surround the cursed town of Forsaken Oaks, California…

Urban Legend #1

Some researchers believe that certain demon races are actually the disembodied spirits of the Nocturne. (They are also considered to be Shadow People.) The origination of the Nocturne began with the legend of an archangel named Raziel. Urban legend states that Raziel escorted a sect of angels that were to instruct humans in morality.

Unfortunately, these angels began to educate man in sciences that God had deemed to be forbidden. These subjects included astrology, divination, and magic. The tutelage went on for centuries, until the angels began to pine for the human females.

After the fallen angels, or sometimes known as the Forsaken, had sexual relations with the women, their unholy union resulted in the hybrid offspring called: Nocturne, which are the direct descendants of the antediluvian Forsaken. Nocturne are also known as the Grigori or the Watchers.

It has been insinuated that one of the main reasons for the great flood, was not only to punish man, but to cleanse the earth of the Nocturne created from the union of fallen angels and human women. The flood banished most of the Forsaken and their offspring into a Sheol.

So, do you believe in the Nocturne? What do you think will happen if they are ever freed?

Urban Legend #2

One haunted house claim that continues to be an urban legend is the infamous, Ravenhurst Manor in Forsaken Oaks. Books and stories have been written based on its hauntings and its reputation as one of California's most ghostly places.

Ravenhurst Manor’s first owner was a woman and dark sorceress named, Rowan Broussard. After her death, the estate was used as an all girl’s boarding school for many years. The sixty room Gothic mansion was listed for sale with the resident ghosts. Other odd things that occurred in in this house were: doors and windows that opened or closed on their own, cold drafts, whispering voices, and some visitors even claimed to see a dark shadowy figure roaming the halls.

However, Ravenhurst is most famously linked to the disappearance of six children during the years of 1964 through 1967. (After the school was closed, the estate became the property of the town before it was sold to an wealthy, oil magnate.) After the children’s' bodies were discovered buried within the walls of the house, obviously from less than peaceful circumstances, the town buried them in Silent Hollows Cemetery.

Did these Children buried on unconsecrated ground, lead to the strange tragedy that would make this mansion so famous?

Urban Legend #3

Ah, let’s move on to the zombie apocalypse!

Another interesting urban legend states that on September 28, 1941, during an eclipse, a zombie was spotted in Forsaken Oaks. To make matters worse, a fire at the local mill had swept through town. As day turned to night, more zombies appeared. Many townsfolk mistook the undead for dazed mill workers. After the residents received hugs from the zombies, they were bitten by these paranormals, and soon the epidemic spread across the town like wildfire.

To make matters worse, the roads and bridges connecting Forsaken Oaks to the rest of the Bay Area had burned in the fire. The townsfolk had no way to escape. Scores of people become lost when they chose to venture into the dark depth of Deadwood Grove rather than face the insatiable zombie menace.

Within days, the Paranormal Research Group(PRG) converged on Forsaken Oaks in a variety of aircraft. They established a base on the south side of the forest and went about the process of extermination. It took two weeks to secure the town. A total of 500 people were plague-ridden, an enormous number considering that there wasn’t a zombie vaccine available at this time.

Whatever the case, Forsaken Oaks’s zombie outbreak affected just under 600 people, making it one of the worst cases in U.S. history.

Are you prepared for a zombie apocalypse? What if zombies start showing up again?

Thank you so much for letting me chat up my YA series with all of you. It’s been an honor to share the eerie urban legends associated with the Spellbound series. If you haven’t seized your copy yet, please do so. Many thrilling and extraordinary adventures await you!

Life sucks for Shiloh Trudell. And being a demon hunter who’s in love with a cocky half-demon makes things even suckier.

Especially when she discovers that Trent, her sinfully hot boyfriend, is hiding a few dangerous secrets. Like the fact that he’s losing his humanity.

To complicate matters, witches from the local coven are mysteriously turning up dead, and as Shiloh searches for answers, she confronts her worst nightmare…Trent is being blackmailed into becoming the next leader of the Underworld.

But Shiloh is still convinced that she can save him, even after the impossibly gorgeous, fallen angel Raze tells her that a relationship with Trent is forbidden now. Warned to stay away from the only boy she’s ever loved, she can’t ignore the sizzling attraction that ignites whenever they’re around one another. Especially after a swoon-inducing night of stolen passion.

As Shiloh’s world begins to unravel around her, it soon becomes obvious that her destiny lies in one of two choices: vanquish Trent or join him in the Underworld.